A Rose Among Thorns
by xotashxo
Summary: When Madeleine's parents are arrested for embezzlement, she is left with no money, and no way to pay her rent. Luckily for her, long-time friend Pepper (who is basically the sister Madeleine never had) is able to offer her a place to stay. At Stark Tower. With the Avengers. This should be interesting.
1. an unexpected offer

All of Madeleine's life, she'd never wanted for anything. Her father was a successful businessman, making lots of money, so she grew up comfortably. When she graduated college, her parents agreed to pay the rent for her apartment for her until she found a job.

She was job-hunting, but at her leisure. She wanted a job she would enjoy doing, not just a job because she needed money. She had the luxury of finding her perfect job. With a degree in business, and being fluent in french, a lot of employers had offered her jobs. She had politely turned them down, not feeling like she'd found her perfect job.

How she wishes she'd taken one of them now.

* * *

All her belongings packed into her suitcases, she stood outside her apartment building - _old apartment building_ \- trying to decide what to do. She only had 20 dollars cash, and no money in her bank account, as she'd relied on money from her parents for the essentials. She'd never taken too much, but they'd always insisted on her having some of their money on hand. They didn't have any left to give.

As she felt the tears start to well up in her eyes, she rummaged around in her handbag to find her phone, deciding to call the one person she knew wouldn't judge her.

"Hello?"

"Can you come get me?" She said between silent sobs, which could all be heard through the phone.

"Of course. Where are you?"

She gave her the address, then hung up the phone.

* * *

10 minutes later, a sleek black car pulled up to the curb, a familiar face rushed out, her strawberry blonde hair shoved up into a ponytail.

"Maddie!" She cried as she pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"Hey, Pepper." She attempted a weak smile.

"Come on, lets get you to the Tower."

Madeleine followed Pepper to the car, dragging her suitcases behind her. A tall man exited the driver's seat and took her bags from her, only to put them in the boot of the car. After Pepper and Madeleine were in the car, the driver, who introduced himself as Happy Hogan, started the car and took them to the famous Stark Tower.

* * *

On the drive to the Tower, Madeleine had explained to Pepper everything that had happened in her life recently. Her parent's had been caught, and subsequently arrested for embezzlement; she'd had to go to court and testify that she knew nothing about the embezzlement or she may have had to go to prison as well; she currently had no job, no money and as a direct cause of the previous two factors, was now homeless. Pepper's only reaction was _"Why didn't you call me sooner?"_

Pepper looked like she was about to say something more when they pulled up to the Tower. Telling Happy to bring Madeleine's bags in for her, Pepper motioned to her to follow.

They walked straight through the lobby, into a spacious elevator. Instead of pressing the button of floor she wanted, Pepper opted for speaking to the elevator.

"The loft please, JARVIS."

"Right away, Miss Potts. Sir asked me to inform you that Dr. Banner and himself are in the labs, and should be finished in about half an hour."

"Thank you, JARVIS."

At Madeleine's slightly bewildered look, Pepper told her that JARVIS as an AI that Tony had built, and was built into the building's systems. Every floor had access to JARVIS.

When they reached the loft, Pepper pulled off her shoes and gestured for Maddie to do the same. She then lead her over to a comfy couch, and sat down, pulling Maddie down beside her.

"Now, answer me truthfully, why didn't you call me as soon as you found out about what your parents were doing?"

Maddie shrugged her shoulders. "It was about a month ago, and New York was still recovering from the alien attack and I didn't want to bother you. I knew you would be fussing over Tony, who had fallen out of the sky. I didn't want to add another thing to your plate."

Pepper scoffed. "Nonsense. Madeleine, you are practically the sister I never had. You're supposed to call me whenever something's wrong, you're supposed to be able to talk to me. I don't want you to ever feel like you can't, or that you're being a bother. _**You aren't**_. I promise, you could never be a bother to me."

Maddie smiled slightly, wiping at the tears that lingered on her face.

"Now, about where you're going to stay... I'll have Tony clear out one of the empty apartments on the floor below."

Maddie's jaw dropped. "No! I couldn't ask that of you, plus I have no way of paying rent because I have no job and I doubt anyone in New York is going too want to hire me after the scandal that was my parents' arrests."

Pepper smiled knowingly. "That's why I was also going to offer you a job. My new assistant, to be precise. I've been looking for an assistant ever since I took over as CEO of Stark Industries, but I haven't been able to find someone competent enough and discreet enough to be able to handle working - and in your case, living - in the same building as the Avengers. Who better than the girl I already view as my little sister?"

Maddie shook her head slightly in disbelief. "Are you, are you sure? Are you sure Tony wouldn't mind?"

"Maddie, you're practically family. He won't mind."

Maddie stared at Pepper, thinking about the times growing up when it had just been the two of them, when their parents had gone out together or when Pepper had taken her on trips to the cinema to celebrate either of their birthdays. Yes, they were family. Pepper was practically her older sister.

"Okay."

Pepper squealed, then proceeded to tell her that she would stay in Pepper and Tony's guest room for the night, then they would get an apartment sorted out for her tomorrow. Then, she would start her new job on Monday, after getting acquainted to life at the Tower. They would also have to get her some sort of identification, so that she could move freely through the Tower without having Pepper with her.

Pepper was so excited about Maddie moving in that she didn't notice Tony come in.

"Pep? I didn't realise we were having guests."

"Tony!" Both women were so engrossed in their conversation that, when Tony spoke, the noise caused them both to jump.

"This is Madeleine Edwards, my new assistant. She's going to be staying in our guest room tonight, then I was thinking we could move her into one of the empty apartments tomorrow." Pepper explained.

"What, kid, got no other place to go?" Tony asked curiously, not meaning anything by it but, being Tony, he managed to hit a nerve.

"Tony!" Pepper scolded, as Maddie smiled slightly to tell Pepper it was okay.

"Actually, no, I don't. I got kicked out of my apartment because I have no money and therefore can't pay rent. I called Pepper because she's practically my sister." Maddie saved Tony from being reprimanded by Pepper, though she didn't managed to save him from the heated glare Pepper sent his way.

"Alright, kid. You're Pepper's family, you're free to stay. Just don't break anything." He smirked, while Maddie's eyes widened slightly at how easily he'd accepted her into his home. He didn't know her. But then again, he did know Pepper, and Maddie knew from experience, never to mess with Pepper Potts.

Tony informed Pepper that they were all going to eat on the communal floor, a man called Barton was getting pizza, and he even extended an invitation to her, claiming _"You're going to meet them at some point, why not just meet them now?"_. After Pepper's muttered _"You don't have to if you don't want to,"_ Maddie agreed to go down and join them.

She wondered if they would all accept her into their home as easily as Stark did.


	2. introductions

Meeting the Avengers was nothing like she'd imagined.

Firstly, Pepper has a thing about eating at a table, no matter what was being eaten. She'd always been a bit of a neat freak, and the spotless white carpet was probably the main reason she wanted people to eat at the table. For as long as Maddie could remember, Pepper hated mess.

Secondly, because arguments broke used to break out quite frequently, there was a seating plan at the table. Without one, there had been arguments, usually starting because Tony thought he was entitled to sit at the head of the table, which usually ended up with one or more superhuman talents being used to "assert dominance" as Pepper so delicately put it. Pepper also added that Maddie would sit next to her, as there was a few extra seats, as the table seated 10.

When they arrived at the communal floor, no one appeared to be there. So Pepper lead Maddie to where they were going to be siting, poured them each a glass of wine, and the girls continued their gossip session from before, talking about how Pepper's life had changed after she started living with the Avengers, and how she had become the CEO of Stark Industries.

* * *

After about 10 minutes of sipping wine and chatting to Pepper, the elevator dinged as it reached their floor. 5 of the people belonging to the group commonly known as the Avengers stepped out, two of them carrying 3 large pizza's each.

"The boys eat so much, they need a pizza each. Us girls usually share one, along with a side salad because we're healthier than the boys." Pepper winked at Maddie, explaining why they had bought so many pizzas.

The group came over and placed the pizzas on the table, then the blond haired man, who appeared to be incredibly muscular, went to start making everyone drinks. A woman with strikingly red hair stared at Maddie, evidently wondering who she was.

Luckily, Pepper was there to save her from the staring. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Madeleine. She's my new assistant, and I've known her for her whole life. Please, make her feel welcome." She glared pointedly at Tony and another man with light brown hair who was smirking at Maddie.

"Pleasure to meet you, Madeleine. My name's Steve." The blond, muscular man - _Steve_ \- introduced himself as he walked back into the room with packs of beer. "Though you'll probably know me better as-"

"Captain America." Maddie cut him off. He smiled at her, as she continued. "History was my favourite class back in high school. I found it so interesting, and it just so happened that you were on the course."

Steve laughed. "Well, its good to know that my life is interesting enough to be taught in a history class."

Pepper was quick to introduce the others around the table, as everyone took their seats and dug into the pizza. The men were sat at one end, the women at the other because they were sharing a pizza as opposed to having their own. Tony sat at the head of the table, with Steve on his right, a bespectacled man with brown wavy hair - _Bruce_ \- on his left, with the smirking man from before - _Clint_ \- next to Bruce. The seat next to Steve was empty; Pepper explained that his friend Bucky was not currently comfortable enough with the whole group to come and sit with them, but the seat was always available should he want to join them.

The redhead - _Natasha_ \- was sat next to Bucky's space, with a woman with kind eyes and long brown hair - _Wanda_ \- to her left. Pepper was sat at the other end of the table, directly opposite Tony, and Maddie was sat on Pepper's right. There was a spare seat next to Clint, which was reserved should anyone want to come and visit, namely Tony's friend Rhodey, Steve's friend Sam, or the elusive Avenger Thor. Pepper had mentioned briefly to Maddie, before anyone had arrived, that Thor doesn't live in Stark Tower. Most of the time, he's on Asgard, but occasionally comes down to Earth, or Midgard as he calls it, to visit his girlfriend Jane in New Mexico and sometimes stays the night at Stark Tower.

* * *

The meal was slightly awkward for Maddie. The whole group were so in sync, they were used to everyone's weird habits and continuously made jokes that made absolutely no sense to her but everyone around her was laughing.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't glad it was over.

After everyone had finished eating, they continued chatting amongst themselves, so Maddie decided it was probably time for her to excuse herself.

"Hey Pepper, do you mind if I go up to bed?" Pepper's smile faltered slightly, then she nodded her head, and was about to get up when Tony spoke.

"What? No! Its only 11! You can't leave yet, newbie."

"Tony, let her go. She's had a long day, she needs her rest."

After a few minutes of awkward silence and Pepper glaring at Tony, he finally conceded. Pepper took her up to their floor. Maddie showered and got into bed, absolutely exhausted from everything that had happened today.

* * *

Maddie awoke the next morning feeling a bit disoriented. Picking up her phone, she realised it was only 7:30AM. She wasn't used to waking up this early, but she figured it was probably due to the stress of yesterday and the restless sleep that followed.

She decided that, instead of lying around in bed and feeling bad for herself, she would get up and see if Pepper was awake.

She climbed out of bed, changing into a pair of leggings and her Fall Out Boy concert tee that was a size too big for her. Brushing her light ginger hair and pulling it up into a messy high ponytail, she left the room Pepper had put her in, in search of something to eat.

"Hey, kid. What're you doing up?" Came a voice from behind her, which she realised belonged to Tony.

"Didn't have a great sleep, so I woke up early. Is there anywhere I can get something to eat?"

"Sure, ask JARVIS to take you to the communal floor. Eat whatever you want. Just, if you finish the coffee, make some more for the rest of us. We all get cranky without our caffeine fix." He smirked at her, before walking towards his own bedroom.

Maddie entered the elevator, and awkwardly spoke to it. She had heard Pepper talking to the so-called JARVIS yesterday, but that didn't do anything to prepare her for the elevator replying to her. It was kinda creepy. She felt like she was talking to herself.

After a few awkward tries, she was taken down to the communal floor. She headed straight for the kitchen, not bothering to check whether anyone was up. She looked in a few of the cupboards, searching for something decent to eat for breakfast, and ended up settling for making her self some toast, and grabbing some fruit along with it.

"Hey, you're up early." Steve walked into the kitchen, set on making himself some coffee. His face was red, and he was breathing quite heavily.

"You're also up early." She retorted.

"True. I like to go for a run early in the mornings. Helps me focus. What's got you up and out of bed so early? I'm not used to anyone else being awake at this time, except for Nat on occasion or Tony if he's pulled an all-nighter."

"Maybe I'm just an early bird." She smirked at him.

He just shook his head and started pouring himself a cup of coffee.

They chatted for a bit, learning little bits about each other. Maddie realised halfway through that she'd made a new friend already and she hadn't even been here one day.

At about 9:30AM, Pepper entered the communal floor, heading straight over to where Steve and Maddie were sat.

She turned to Maddie. "I'm going to have some breakfast, then I'm going to show you your new apartment. Be ready!"

This day had better be less stressful than the last.


End file.
